An early endeavor to cover pictures with a textile fabric is shown in Luther U.S. Pat. No. 189,117 in which a picture is covered with a textile fabric adhered thereto and rendered transparent by a varnish or glue to render the picture waterproof and obviate scaling and cracking.
In Corbin U.S. Pat. No. 2,037,008 a sheet is coated on the underside with a penetrating varnish which renders it transparent with a printed ornament still visible. The ornamented sheet is imposed on foil and the upper surface coated with varnish to complete the transparency with ornament visible and the luster of the sheet visible to form a background while also waterproofing the sheet and securing it to a base such as a cardboard or paper.
However, in both of these instances, with any picture having a paper backing present, the varnish or shellac saturates into the paper to a degree causing overall spotting, discoloration or a disagreeable appearance of the picture either in whole or in part rendering the picture substantially useless. Generally the oil soaked paper would lose its original color and obliterate all or part of the picture making the picture worthless. Furthermore, if there were any printing on the other side of the paper, it would objectionably show through.